The weight of the world
by AGL
Summary: Events after TDK. The Batman faces the outcome of his decisions, questions his motives and wonders if he will have the guts to pay the price for his mistakes.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter#1: I'm a leper**

The elevator shaft pulls the floor down, like a Leviathan captivating a hold of the unsuspected shipman on a Greek tragedy, only this is not a Greek tragedy, it's my catastrophe. By now the whole city might now about the death of Harvey Dent, the demise of the White Knight… the story was too big to cover up, the damage to great, the fall too high.

"Beautiful. Unethical. DANGEROUS" Those were the word use by Lucius; I can hear them just as clear… He tried to stop me; I know that now… he tried to tell me that I was far off, that I was becoming a monster in order to stop that maniac… hopefully his insanity would be the only shield we are going to have against the true. But Gordon played it right, he did the right thing.

-Ouch- I tell myself while getting off the suit… many scars had followed me since I devoted myself to this unattainable task….I look around trying to piece myself together and it happens every time… the fear, the panic that comes when I'm not the Batman or Bruce Wayne…when I'm trapped in the middle, I lose myself….I close my eyes and concentrated on the damage in my hands, the forearms show significant damage and the bullet was stopped by the suit but a bluish spot in the belly is causing significant pain, those a reminder of what had percolate tonight…. Won't take painkillers, I earn my pain….and right now is the only thing that keeping me company.

"Don't talk like one of them. You're not! Even if you'd like to be. To them, you're just a freak, like me! They need you right now, but when they don't, they'll cast you out, like a leper!" The words of the Joker echoes in my head, I can't get his voice out of head… "Iike a leper he said" it haunts me to know that the clown got it right; little did I know how right the clown turn out to be.

He takes the mask off and drops himself next to a couch….he can't breathe; not because of pain, but because of sadness, pure unadulterated sadness, he looks back at the life of Harvey and Rachel, the maniacal laugh of the joker, the despair in Gordon's wife when they told her he died, how she screamed at me…acknowledging that my existence was the cause of her husband demise….that the thrust he put on me only got him a wooden box…. I remember what I felt that night, the cold grip of despair…and I felt it again when Rachel passed away…but never like this, never like now.

A teacher once told me that we must never abandon the rule of law in struggling against the forces of lawlessness. In fighting monsters, we must be careful not to become monsters… Am I a monster? Did I brought this up onto to the people I swore to protect? I don't know and I think I would never know.

He walks toward the computer and turns it on…. He takes some mild pain medication and goes to the shower room…he wishes the water would not only cleanse his body but his soul, he knew better…he knew that it would never go away, that there was not turning back but the good thing about crying while being in the shower is that they can't see you cry.

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	2. Chapter 2

Chapter #2

Takes time

_Bruce Wayne walks into the cave, not wholly Batman and not entirely Bruce, something in between…like a copy of an incomplete file running amok in a computer…. He just couldn't piece himself together…. He felt …broken._

_But the price of this masquerade was paid with blood, with the reputation of the Dark Knight, the one that used to be love and respected by the city has become a monster, a figment of an imagination turned into overdrive by the urban gossip…. But if they ever felt fear, now is the time…. The face of Gotham is no longer the weeping sound of a victim, but the hideous face that hides in the shadows and fuels the imagination of the wicked._

_Like a dark Gargoyle he must stand… alone and in the shadows he must endure…. He is not a hero, he is a dark avenger…a Dark Knight._

_The phone beep, Alfred is calling; he is probably going to tell me "__**I Told you so**__" but I don't really think so… I feel that's going to be one of those days…._

_I am so sorry that nothing will change the damage or pain caused to others…. Did I betray Lucius trust? Did I push so hard and cause this? Am I responsible of Harvey? Am I responsible for Rachel? Even if I tell myself I'm not…. My conscience is not so sure, the doubts will hunt for the rest of my days. _

_He sits and the computer lights up… he was trying to find a pattern among the ruckus of the city, the Joker almost had us, it's was impossible to foresee the outcome of this drama…. That's not entirely truth, Alfred tried to tell me but I didn't listen to him, now that I see myself in other light I found that I didn't listened to anyone….I was proud, and now I fall._

_Sometimes the biggest burden is realizing that dreams lingered long after reality has hit you… Rachel is gone, blown to pieces but that murderous maniac…. Who would accept the conditions of the life I've chosen? _

_But the price has not only been met by me, but by Gordon who know lives on a lie that we created to keep the fragile hopes of a crumbling city, it was never more than a fool's dream…. But I gladly pay the price._

_Work must be done, the outcry of the voices are still there…. Work must be done._


End file.
